Ted Wyman, QMI Agency

WINNIPEG - The fact Zach Bogosian is in Winnipeg skating with his Jets teammates is a good sign the team will get his name on a contract in the near future.

“I’m here for a reason,” Bogosian told Global TV Winnipeg Monday morning at the MTS IcePlex. “That’s because I want to play here, I want to be here.”

Both Bogosian, a restricted free agent defenceman, and the Jets have said all summer they want to get a deal done — today’s words were nothing new — but as the beginning of training camp creeps closer, a few fans have been starting to get nervous.

“I wouldn’t come here if I didn’t want to be here,” he told Global. “I’m not obligated to be here until actual training camp. The fact is I want to come in here before camp and get into a routine, get to know some of the new people that I (didn’t) meet last year. It’s good to get into a little bit of a routine.”

Many people have seen and heard the trade rumours, though most of them have been preposterous (like Bogosian for the overpaid underperformer Scott Gomez).

It’s easy to suggest Bogosian is trade bait because of his contract status, but there are not many GM’s in the NHL who would easily part with a 21-year-old defenceman, who was a third overall draft pick and already has almost 200 NHL games to his credit.

“Bogosian, for me, is someone I hope to build our defence around,” Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff said earlier this summer.

One thing is certain: The Jets have plenty of room on their payroll for Bogosian.

As of Monday, the Jets had the second lowest payroll in the entire NHL ($48,984,166) and are less than $200,000 ahead of the New York Islanders, according to Capgeek.com. That leaves the Jets some $15 million short of the NHL’s salary cap of $64.3 million and only a few hundred thousand bucks ahead of the salary floor of $48.3 million.

So let’s put it this way: There’s no good reason for the Jets to not get a long-term deal done with Bogosian.

They want him, he wants to be here and they have the cap space and financial flexibility.

Even though Bogosian had a team-worst -27 rating last season with the Atlanta Thrashers, his star is still on the rise among NHL defencemen. You get the impression he and his agent Bob Murray are waiting to see what other young defencemen like Drew Doughty of the Los Angeles Kings and Luke Schenn of the Toronto Maple Leafs sign for.

Bogosian’s leverage is limited otherwise, so he’s doing what makes the most sense at this point — skating with his teammates and getting ready for training camp with the hope he officially signs some time this week.

The Jets highest paid player is still in trouble south of the border and it’s not clear when Dustin Byfuglien will arrive in Winnipeg for training camp.

The big star defenceman will no doubt face a media inquisition when he does arrive, on the heels of news he will be formally charged with boating while intoxicated in Minneapolis last month. There will also be many eyes on the all-star blue-liner’s physique, after it was reported he was well over his playing weight during the summer.

There’s a good chance Byfuglien will have a long and fruitful career in Winnipeg, but the first few days might not be as much fun as it has been for the arriving players, who have mostly had to answer hard-hitting questions about the weather and the city,

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Another player who made his first appearance at the MTS IcePlex Monday was goaltender Ondrej Pavelec. Pavelec is another player who, if he has a big year, could be in for a hefty raise after this season. The 24-year-old from the Czech Republic is slated to earn $1,150,000 this season before becoming a restricted free agent.